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March 16,1926. 1,577,185

8. F". FITCH FREIGHT TRANS FERR ING SYS TEM Filed Sept. 50, 1925 5Sheets-Shee't 1 March 16 1926. 1,577,185

B. F. FITCH FREIGHT TfiANSFEHRING SYSTEM Filed Sept. S0, 19355.Sheets-Sheet 2 v 3144mm atter we go March 16 1926. 1,577,185

' B. F. FITQH FREIGBT TRANSFERR ING SYSTEM Filed Sept 5'0, 1925 I 5Sheets-Sheet 5 attozmga March 16 1926. 1,577,185-

, B. F. FITCH FREIGHT TRANSFERRING SYSTEM Filed Sept. 30, 1925 5Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG" .5

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. B. F. FITCH v FREIGHT TRANSF'EHRING SYSTEM 1 Filed Sept. 30, 1925 5Sheets-Sheet 5 I I I3 7 Sub I fiub Station I On I I I awn tot i atentedMar. 16, i926.

1 I UNITE sin PATENT OFFICE.

ianniiiivii i r. rrrcia'or GREELiWlCH, CONNECTICUT.

FREIGHT-TRANSFERRING SYSTEM.

Application filed September 30, 1925. Serial 'No. 59,450.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. Fi'roii,a-citizen oi the United States, residing at (irreenwiclniin the countyof Fairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in a Freiglit-Transferring System, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

The handling of freight on containers comprising removable automobilebod es and the establishmentof inland terminals is set forth, in a entNo. 1,275,145 issued to me used, then the long vehicle hauls while emptywould be a detrimentto theeiiiciency of the truck, and iii addition, thespace required at the station for storing the containers during aloadingoperation would also be'detriniental to the operating efficie-ncyof the terminal station.

To eliminate the objection of employing a heavy duty truck from thepointoforigin to the local consignee, .mercantile concerns have.established stations remote from the pointof'origin and from each otherand havev employed heavy duty trucks for C011? veying freight from thepoint of origin to the sub-station, with horse-drawn vehicles orrelatively light trucks for traversing the delivery routes which leadfrom the substation. -In practice, the freight must be carefully checkedat the point of origin .to insure delivery to the proper sub-stationtruck andthen at the substation all of the freight is unloaded while thetruck remains idle. -Thisfreight is usually transported into differentbins or floor spaces in accordsides the time for checking and,rechecking requiresconsiderable time to assemble the freight in properposition within the delivery wagon or truckfrom the individual spaces orbins. Such sorting necessitates idle time by r the delivery vehiclewhich otherwise might be traveling over the delivery route.

To increase the size of the sub-station for handling an increased volumeof business entails considerable expense, particularly where thesub-stations ,are'situated in built up localities. ,Moreover, toincrease the number of route delivery vehicles necessitates additionalstreet area for parking'purposes during the loading and unloadingoperation, unless sufiicient area is obtained to permit adequate. spacefor parking and driv- ,ing, within the sub-station property limit.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is the provisionflof. a freight handling system, including the apparatus for carrying outsuch system, to permit the handling of a greatly increased volume offreight particularly where sub-stations are utilized for handling thefreight beyond what iscominonly considered to be, the saturation point.

ltsioreover, my invention is directed towards the provision of a systemwhich may be used by a large mercantile establishment,

orwhich may be used by a number of commercial concerns, all of whichai'e inore or less I centrally located within a city and which delivertheir merchandise over substantially the same delivery route.

A further object of my invention is to provide apparatus which may beused in connection with my system and to so arrange the apparatus thatthe freight may be han dled with minimum space requirement for thesub-station.

In this connection, I propose to provide apparatus which permits thevolume of business to be greatly increased without necessitatingconsiderable expenditure for additional equipment as well as realtyholdings and without necessitating confiscation of street area duringthe loading and unloading from the sub-station. Moreover, the apparatusis designed to permit the loading and unloading to be accomplishedwithout necessitating the transporting vehicle to remain idle duringsuch operation.

The aparatus for carrying outmy system is shown in the drawings whereinFig. 1 is a plan view partly in section of a sub-station whichisequipped to handle freight in accordance with my system; Fig. 2 is aplan view partly in section of another arrangement for carr ing out thesame result in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is still another plan view partly insection showing an arrangement of apparatus diilerent from that shown inFigs. 1 and 2; Fig. l is a section taken on a plane indicated by theline ll in 1; Fig. 5 is a section taken on a plane indicated by the line55 in 2 while Fig. (3 is a view showing diagraminatically an arrangementof sub-stations with deliveries between the point of origin and thesub-stations, and with delivery routes leading from the sub-station.

Refering first to 6, T have shown an outline which illustrates themanner in which my system may be carried out. For example, the point oforigin is indicated at 10 while sub-stations are indicated at 11.Assuming that the point of origin is located in the central portion of acity, then the snbstations would be located in the out-lying districtand as nearly as possible in th central portion of the district which 18served from the particular sub-station. The point of origin indicated at10 may be a mercantile concern or it may be an inland terminal stationsuch as is set forth in Patent No. 1,275,145 issued to in August 6th,1918. a

In carrying out my system, I employ removable automobile bodies withsuitable apparatus at the point of origin and at the sub-stations fortransporting a body to and from a motor truck. Between the point oforigin and each substation, T have shown routes 12 over which heavy dutytrucks may travel. These heavy duty trucks have relatively large sizeremovable bodies which are loaded at the pointof origin and unloaded atthe sub-station.

The anaratus required at the point of orifor transferring removableautomobile bodies to and fro i a motor vehicle may con;- prise suitableverhead hoisting aid transporting mechanism. The ap, aratus at thesub-station, however, must be arranged to provide sufiicieiit space foreffecting the dis tribution of freight and for enabling the transferbetween truck and platform to be readily accomplished.

One arrangement of a sub-station is indicated in Fig. 1 wherein thestation is illus trated as having side walls 20 and 21 and end walls 22and 23 respectively. A plat form space along the wall 20 is provided forsmall sized removable automobile bodies 2i while another space isprovided along the wall 21 for large sized removable automobile bodies25. Between the row of bodies 24 and 25 a trucking space 26 is providedacross which freight may be transported for distribution from the bodies25 to the bodies The large sized bodies are brought to the point oforigin'by motor vehicles which arrive at the sub-station in a vehiclerunway along the side 21 and beneath one of the crane runways indicatedat 30. An overhead hoisting crane 31 is adapted to travel laterally withreference to the building so as to raise a body from a motor vehicle,transport it and then deposit it on the station platform.

The crane runway is sufficiently wide to provide sufficient space forenabling a crane to effect an interchange between the loaded and emptybodies. For example, if a truck 32 having a loaded body thereon arrivesat the station, then before the vehicle is drawn beneath one of thecranes 3.1,then the empty body on the platform is raised and transportedlaterally over the vehicle runway and deposited in the space 33 as shownby the broken lines 25*, then if the truck is driven beneath the runwayalongside the body 25, the crane may raise the loaded body from thetruck, transport it laterally and transport it upon the platform Afterthe loaded body is released, the crane may return to pick up the emptybody 25* and deposit it upon the vehicle.

To permit handling of the small sized body, I have shown a vehiclerunway along the outer side of the station adjacent the wall 22, and Ihave shown a crane runway 3% which extends over the row of small sizedbodies and also overhangs the vehicle runway. A crane 35 is adapted totravel overhead and is sutticiently hi h b th platform to permit onebody to be transported over other small sized bodies on the platform. Ifdesired, I may employ asmaller number of small sized bodies than thespace will accommodate so as to have an extra space into which a loadedbody may be immediately deposited on a vehicle arriving at the station.

With the rangement shown in Fig. 1, if the large sized bodies have doorsat the sides thereof and the small sized bodies have doors the endsthereof, then freight may be delivered manually from either of the largeto a; of the small bodies, as indicated by the directional lines leadingfrom the large to the small bodies. During the loadll'lg operation, eachsmall sized body may preferably have a delivery boy who is responsiblefor all merchandise which is delivered into his particular container.The

delivery boy will place the packages in the container in the properorder to permit convenient removal when the container is passing overthe delivery route. lVhile one delivery boy is loading one container,there will be another delivery boy with the con tainer passing aroundthe delivery route. Thus the boy who provides the loading is responsiblefor every article which passes to his container. This leaves thechauffeur free to devote his entire time to operating the motor vehicle.In this way, the motor Ill?) I I one side 54: of the station.

vehicle will cover. much greater territory,

while the work required to maintain an accurate checking is reduced toa'minimum.

'The freight arrangement shown in Fig. l embodies a substantiallyrectangularvbuilding with two large cranes and one small .Vhere theconditions require, one large crane and two small cranes may beutilized. Such an arrangement isshown in Fig. 2 wherein a large sizedcrane is desig-. nated at 40 while the small sized cranes are indicatedat al and 42 respectively; In this arrangement, *a vehicle runwayextends along one side 43 of the station. while another vehicle runwayextends along the side l l of-the station. The large containers 45'areshown on the platform beneathjthe runway of the crane lO, while-smallcontainers a6 and 47- are shown beneath the runways ofthe cranes ll and1-2re'spectively. The arrows indicate the di-rectionof freight from thelarge'containers to the smallcontainers through door openings in theends of the large' and small containers.

In Fig.- 3, I have shown another arrangement wherein large containers 50are I deposited in a row ona station} platform beneath the runway of alarge sized crane 51,

while another rowof smallsized bodies 52 are deposited in a row beneatha small sized crane 53., "In this arrangement, only one vehicle drivewaymay be provided adjacent v The arrows 55 show the path of transportationbetween the containers 50 and 52.

' Referring nowfo Fig. 4,1' have provided a depressed vehicle runwayadjacent the side 21 of thebuildingshown in Fig. '1'. Moreover,thecranes "3O which'I adapt to travclover the vehicle runways arerequired to lift a body only a short distance sufficientto permit aclearance Over the corner brackets on the truck. This enablesasubstation to be built atsmall cost since it lowers the necessarybuilding height and obviates the necessity for expensive crane -equip'nent. On the other hand, the crane 35 also shown in Fig. 4 may raise asmall body over other small bodies positioned on the platform, but theoverall distance between the platform and small crane need not be muchgreater than that required for the large sized crane.

The loading at the point of origin and unloading at the sub-station maybe accomplished without requiring the truck to remain idle. Thus onetruck may move from the point of origin with a loaded large body to asub-station where the loaded body is exchanged for an empty one and maythen return to the point of origin, where the empty body is replaced byanother loaded body which may be directed to the same or to a differentsub-station.

At the sub-station, provision is made for 1 up locations.

ing removable automobilebodies on the delivery vehicles, onetruck may bein transit while another body is being loadedat the sub-station..Thuswhen the vehicle returns from the route, the empty body may bequickly replaced by a loaded body, and the vehicleimay start out onanother delivery route, or may start out on another tripover the samedelivery route. In

An important advantage of a freight handlingsystein embodying myinvention is the fact that a greatly increased volume of freight may behandled in a given time over that'which could be handled under presentcircumstances. Moreover, the

ing the expenditure of considerable sums of money for acquiring realtyholdings in built By using sub-stations, one large sized container isemployed for conveying freight from the pointof' origin to thesubstation and small sized containers may be employed for conveyingfreightfrom the sub-station over the delivery route; By theuseofapparatus'for lifting the bodies from motor vehicles,the'loadingand unloading operation may be accomplished without requiring the trucksto remain idle. In this way, a small number of trucks may sufiicetohandle a large-volume of freight within a short period of time. Byproviding bodies and trucks and by employing two delivery I increasedvolume may be handled without necess1tath boys for each delivery route,then one boy may be loading a container at the sub-station, while theother is traveling with a truck over the deliveryroute. This reduces toa minimum the time required for checking and rechecking and places theresponsibility on a small number of persons.

Having thus described my invention, I claim o 1. A system of handlingfreight by means of a plurality of sub-stations which are spaced from apoint of origin and from each other, comprising bringing frelght 1nremovable automobile bodies from the point ous points adjacent citystreets comprising bringing freight over city streets in removableautomobile bodies from a common point of origin to the varioussub-stations, raising and transporting the bodies from automobiles,depositing them at the sub-station platform and collocating the freightfrom such loaded bodies into empty bodies positioned at the platform,raising the latter bodies, transporting them and depositing them toother vehicles, and then sending the last mentioned vehicles over citystreets.

3. A system of handlingfreight by means of a plurality of sub-stationswhich are spaced from each other, comprising bringing freight inrelatively large-sized removable automobile bodies from the point oforigin to the stations, providing relatively small removable automobilebodies at each station,

transporting the large sized bodies into position adjacent the smallsized bodies, removing the freight from the large bodies and placing itin the small bodies, sending the empty large bodies back to the point oforigin, and sending the iilled small bodies over predetermined deliveryroutes.

4; A system of handling freight by means ofsub-stations at points remotefrom a point of origin and from each other, comprising bringing freightfrom the point of origin in relatively large removable automobilebodies, raising the bodies at the sub-stations, transporting them anddepositing them in a row on the station platform, arranging relativelysmall automobile bodies in another row on the paltform in such mannerthat a trucking space is provided between the rows, removing the freightfrom the large bodies, hand sorting it and delivering it to the smallbodies, sending the empty large bodies back to the point of origin andsending the filled small bodies over delivery routes.

5. In combination, a freight station, relatively large removableautomobile bodies and relatively small automobile bodies at the station,cranes for raising, and transporting the bodies between the station anda vehicle, there being one crane having a relatively short lift, andanother crane having a relatively large lift, the short lift cranebeingan ranged for handling the large bodies, and the large lift cranebeing arranged to handle the small bodies.

6. In combination, a freight station having a depressed runway along oneside thereof, relatively large removable automobile bodies at thestation, a crane trackway extending over said bodies and overhanging therunway, said crane being positioned above the runway sufiicient onlyvfor permitting a body to clear the truck and for depositing the bodywithin the station, a plurality of relatively small automobile bodies, acrane extending over said bodies, and also projecting beyond thestation, said last mentioned crane having a lift suificient to permitone, small body to be raised and transported over other small bodies.

7. In combination, a freight station, relatively large and relativelysmall removable automobile bodies at the station, overhead travelingcranes for raising and transporting said bodies, there being a pluralityof cranes of one size for handling one size of removable automobilebodies, and there being a single crane for handling another size ofremovable automobile bodies.

8. In combination, a station having a platform associated therewith andhaving vehicle runways along two sides thereof at right angles to eachother, overhead traveling cranes adapted to extend over part of theplatform and overhanging the runways, such cranes being adapted toarrange removable automobile bodies in rows on the signature.

' BENJAMIN F. FITCH.

